The "Internet" is a world-wide network of interconnected computers which employs the client-server model. The Internet includes a large number of interconnected server computers (i.e., "servers"), which are accessed by user computers (i.e., "clients"). A server typically operates a "site" on the Internet which includes a collection of documents or "pages" stored as files, and the network address of a server is specified by its Uniform Resource Language ("URL"). A client is typically the user of a personal computer who accesses the servers through an Internet access provider (providing basic access) or service provider (providing additional on-line services). By running a software program called a "browser", the user can connect with or"link" to a particular server based upon the URL address of that server.
The Internet computer network was originally designed as a communications link to facilitate the exchange of scientific information between governmental laboratories and educational institutions. However, in recent years, the increased use of the "World Wide Web" ("WWW") has fueled explosive growth of the Internet that has extended beyond the scientific community and, indeed, into homes, businesses and classrooms. The WWW refers to a collection of Internet servers utilizing the Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") as an applications protocol to provide users with access to files for communicating text, graphics, sound, video, etc. HTTP, in turn, uses a page description language called Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML") to specify the format of WWW pages that are displayed to the users. HTML pages can include hypertext "links" to other servers and files, with the URLs of the target servers stored or embedded within the links.
Links present within a page may appear to a user in a variety of forms. For example, a link may appear as underlined text (e.g., a word or phrase), as bolded text, as text having a different color as surrounding text, or as text having some other form designed to draw the attention of the user such that the link is easily identified as such. When a user selects a link (e.g., by "clicking" on the link with an input device such as a computer mouse), the browser running on the user's computer makes a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("ICP/IP") request to the server identified by the URL specified in the link, and receives a WWW page (i.e., a document formatted according to HTML) from the identified server. A link may also be embedded within a graphical image displayed on the user's computer monitor or display. When the geographical area of the image is selected (e.g., by "clicking" within the area), the browser again makes an TCP/IP request to the server identified by the specified URL. Thus, a user may easily navigate (i.e., "surf") between various servers to find and retrieve HTML pages or documents of interest. The user may navigate using readily available software such as Netscape Navigator 2.0.
As use of the Internet, and particularly its WWW portion, has become more pervasive, merchants have looked to the Internet as providing a new advertising medium for their products and services. A recent review of Internet advertising in general is provided in "Web Ads Start to Click", Business Week, Oct. 6, 1997, at 128-140. Merchants who sponsor their own WWW sites typically include advertising material within their site's pages. However, creating and maintaining a stand-alone WWW site requires a substantial amount of resources, and is beyond the means of many merchants. Also, the time and expense required to set up such a stand-alone site makes this technique unsuitable for certain seasonal, limited time, or one-shot usage. Further, the audience for this advertising material is limited by the extent to which the merchant can attract users to visit its own site.
One technique that has been used to address these problems is the deployment of advertisements on the WWW sites of other sponsors or "content providers" who agree to sponsor the advertisements. The simplest WWW advertisement suitable for deployment takes the form of a static graphical banner. Such a banner includes an image related to the product or service being advertised, typically stored as a graphics file (e.g., a ".gif" file), and displayed according to the HTML description of the sponsoring page. The merchant may pay the sponsor of the particular WWW site an advertising fee for the privilege of deploying its banner on the sponsor's site. The costs for such a banner are relatively low since the merchant need not set up and maintain its own site. Also, the banner can be quickly set up for seasonal or one-time use. Further, the banner may be widely distributed or deployed on many sites, subject to the merchant's payments for use of the advertising real estate. However, such static advertising banners involve only one-way communication, and do not take advantage of the Internet's interactive capabilities which could otherwise be used to solicit data from prospective customers ("users") for generating purchase orders or leads.
Another form of WWW advertisement suitable for deployment which takes advantage of the Internet's interactive capability is an advertising banner including a graphical image displayed according to the HTML description of the sponsoring page and an embedded link to the merchant's site. The embedded link is typically transparent to the user, although it may be displayed if desired. When a user selects the banner (e.g., by "clicking" a mouse on the geographic area of the image), the URL specified by the link takes the user to the merchant's WWW site. The merchant's site can then solicit data from the user for use in generating purchase orders or leads. The user must then, if desired, navigate back to the referring page that was being viewed when the banner was originally selected (the "referring page").
This alternative form of advertising banner can be widely deployed throughout Internet advertising space (subject to the merchant's payment for the advertising real estate). However, such a banner requires the merchant to create and maintain its own WWW site which, as stated above, is expensive and beyond the means of many merchants. Also, such a banner advertisement requires the user to browse or "click" through a number of screens on the merchant's site before being presented with an order form. Research has shown that the need for a user to click through multiple pages strongly decreases the odds that the user will complete the transaction by discouraging "impulse" purchases. Further, since the user is taken to the merchant's site and is not easily returned to the referring page, the retention rate of users on the sponsor's site suffers. Thus, the sponsor is discouraged from displaying the banner, and may demand a higher payment for use of the advertising real estate. The failure to return the user to the referring page also disrupts the user's browsing session, which may adversely affect the user's willingness to use such banners in the future. In addition, such a banner does not provide the merchant with the ability to cross-sell products or services, and the merchant must pay for advertising space for each deployed banner. It would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating transactions on a computer network, such as the generation of purchase orders or leads, that do not have these disadvantages.